Road Safety Technologies Adopted by U.S. Cities in 2025

‍Urban streets in major cities like New York are bustling with vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. Ensuring road safety in such environments is a top priority in 2025, leading cities to adopt smart technologies to protect all road users.

In 2025, road safety is at the forefront for U.S. cities. More than 40,000 people lose their lives in traffic incidents each year nationally, with urban areas seeing rising pedestrian and cyclist fatalities​. Public officials are under pressure to meet Vision Zero goals (eliminating traffic deaths), address equity in street design, and make data-driven investments that genuinely save lives​. The good news is that cities are embracing innovative technologies – from AI-powered analytics to connected infrastructure – to create safer streets. 

This article will highlight how major U.S. cities like New York, San Francisco, Austin, and others are leveraging smart mobility solutions, real-time data, and new safety programs in 2025.

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Data-Driven Traffic Management for Safer Streets

Modern cities are moving away from reactive safety strategies (waiting for crashes to happen) and toward proactive, data-driven management. Instead of relying solely on static signs and after-the-fact crash reports, agencies are tapping into live streams of information to spot risks in real time. Accurate, timely data is the foundation of this approach – not just data on crashes, but on dangerous behaviors and conditions before crashes occur​. With platforms that integrate data from GPS devices, roadside sensors, and city databases, transportation departments can monitor what’s happening on their roads second-by-second.

What can real-time analytics do? Cities now use dashboards and analytics tools:

Pinpoint Speeding Hotspots

Track vehicle speeds across the network and flag where drivers routinely exceed limits. For example, a city can identify that certain corridors or school zones have high rates of speeding today, not just historically, and target enforcement there immediately.

Monitor School Zones and Sensitive Areas

In places around schools or senior centers, officials watch compliance in real time​ – if cars are still speeding during school hours, they know exactly when and where to intervene.

Detecting Emerging Crash Patterns

By fusing data on near-misses, hard braking events, and congestion, agencies catch early warning signs of unsafe conditions​. This means if an intersection suddenly shows a spike in hard braking or red-light violations, engineers can respond (e.g. adjust signal timing or add signage) before an accident happens.

Evaluate Safety Projects Instantly

When a city implements a new measure (say, a redesigned crosswalk or a lowered speed limit), they no longer have to wait months or years to see if it worked. Continuous data feeds let them measure changes in speed, yielding, and conflicts right away, so they can confirm improvements or tweak the approach.

This data-driven ethos is evident in Vision Zero cities. 

New York City, for instance, uses a wealth of data to guide its Vision Zero program. Planners identified priority “high injury” corridors and invested in changes like slower speed limits, redesigned intersections, and automated enforcement on those streets. 

The results are encouraging: a study found that after NYC launched Vision Zero in the 2010s, injury rates dropped significantly and saved an estimated $90 million in medical costs within five years. 

In Manhattan, pedestrian deaths on priority corridors fell 45% since 2019 (and by ~38% in other boroughs) – a strong sign that focused, data-informed interventions work.

Even mid-sized cities are leveraging data to drive decisions. For example, McAllen, Texas used real-time speed data to identify unsafe school zones and secured funding for targeted traffic calming as part of its Vision Zero initiative​. 

Similarly, Fort Pierce, Florida analyzed live traffic patterns to retime signals and streamline a busy corridor, improving safety and strengthening its case for federal infrastructure grants​. These cases show that data isn’t just for big cities – any community can use analytics to prioritize investments and prove safety outcomes to the public.

Ultimately, embracing data-driven traffic management allows city leaders to justify and fine-tune their road safety efforts. By tying problems to hard data, it’s easier to rally support for solutions. Residents and decision-makers can literally see the numbers that underscore a speeding problem or a crash cluster​. This transparency builds public trust that investments (like a new crosswalk or camera system) are addressing real issues and making progress. 

In short, better data means smarter action – and potentially, lives saved before a crash ever occurs.

AI-Powered Analytics and Predictive Safety Tools

One of the most exciting developments in 2025 is the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Computer Vision to improve road safety. Cities are deploying smart cameras and machine-learning algorithms that can observe traffic in ways humans never could – catching near-misses, red-light violations, or dangerous patterns 24/7, and analyzing them for insights. This is a game-changer for Vision Zero, because it shifts the paradigm from reacting after a crash to preventing the crash before it happens​.

Computer Vision For “near-miss” Detection

Several cities are piloting AI systems that watch intersections and flag “near misses” – situations where a crash almost occurred – as a proxy for risk. 

For example, Austin, Texas has been an early adopter of these technologies. In a partnership with companies 3M and MicroTraffic, Austin installed video analytics at select intersections to measure conflicts between vehicles, cyclists, e-scooters, and pedestrians​. 

During the first phase of this pilot, the AI recorded every instance of, say, a car braking hard to avoid a jaywalking pedestrian or two vehicles swerving to avoid collision​. By crunching this data, the system identified which intersections had the most frequent close calls and what kinds of risky behaviors were happening. The city then implemented low-cost safety improvements – things like brighter reflective tape on traffic signal poles and bold crosswalk paint – at those spots as recommended by the AI analysis​. The plan is to collect another round of data after these fixes to see if near-misses go down. This approach lets Austin validate the effectiveness of improvements in months, rather than waiting years for crash statistics to accumulate. 

It’s a powerful example of continuous improvement: deploy AI, find problems, fix them, measure again – all with the goal of preventing injuries and deaths.

Lidar and Privacy-Friendly Sensing

Austin’s Smart Mobility Office didn’t stop at cameras. They also partnered with Velodyne to test a lidar-based traffic sensor on a high-injury corridor​. 

Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) uses lasers to map out objects, and in this case it monitors all road users (cars, pedestrians, bikes) in real time at an intersection. 

The benefit of lidar is that it’s extremely precise and, unlike video, it doesn’t capture personally identifiable details (faces or license plates). The pilot at East 7th Street & Springdale Road is feeding data on how many people cross, how vehicles behave, and where conflicts occur – invaluable information for engineers looking to redesign that dangerous junction. By using cutting-edge sensors like this, cities can gather rich traffic data while addressing privacy concerns, a key consideration for public buy-in.

Geospatial AI and Crash Prediction

Beyond local pilots, some governments are building AI models to predict where future crashes are most likely, so they can act now. 

A notable example is Hawaii’s Department of Transportation, which developed a statewide safety analytics platform using machine learning​. The system ingests years of crash data along with patterns of speed, volume, and roadway features, then produces a map of predicted collision hotspots. 

Instead of saying “X intersection had 5 crashes last year,” it forecasts something like “this intersection is likely to have 20 crashes in the next three years if nothing changes”. Importantly, it doesn’t stop at prediction – it also suggests countermeasures. If the AI notices many projected crashes involving high speeds at night, it might recommend adding lighting and a raised crosswalk, for instance. 

Hawaii’s tool embodies the Vision Zero mindset: measure success by lives saved and crashes prevented, not just by counting tragedies​. Early results showed an estimate that implementing the AI’s recommendations could save about 6.9 lives over three years on the network​. City transportation teams in places like New York and Chicago are watching these predictive analytics closely, as they consider bringing similar “crash forecasting” models into their Vision Zero programs.

Real-World Pilots in Action

Other cities are jumping into AI-based safety as well. In Cambridge and Somerville, MA (inner suburbs of Boston), a new pilot called Data Driven Comprehensive Road Safety is deploying video analytics along a busy corridor shared by the two cities.

This project, a partnership with Draper and Miovision, uses smart cameras to continuously measure the risk to pedestrians and cyclists and identify high-risk interactions between cars and people. The goal is to create an “early warning” system so officials can intervene in days or weeks when a problem emerges, rather than after a year of crashes.The pilot is one of the first of its kind, and if successful, it could become a model for other urban areas looking to supercharge their traffic safety analysis with AI.

With AI and analytics, cities are moving toward predictive safety. Instead of waiting for an accident to trigger change, they are using data to anticipate danger and act beforehand. 

It’s a proactive, systems-oriented approach – one very much aligned with Vision Zero principles of preventing fatal crashes through smarter design, enforcement, and education. As these technologies mature, we can expect them to become standard tools in the urban planner’s toolbox, guiding decisions from timing traffic lights to where to paint the next bike lane.

Connected Vehicles and Smart Infrastructure (V2X)

Another pillar of road safety innovation in 2025 is the rise of connected vehicle technology, often called V2X (vehicle-to-everything). Connected vehicles can “talk” to traffic signals, pedestrian devices, and each other, sharing real-time information that can prevent crashes. 

Imagine a world where a car knows a pedestrian is about to step into a crosswalk around a blind corner, or where a traffic light knows how many cars (and buses and bikes) are approaching and adjusts itself to minimize conflict – that’s the promise of V2X. Many U.S. cities are actively piloting these systems, bringing the concept to life on their streets. 

New York City’s V2X pilot

New York has led one of the country’s largest connected vehicle pilots to date, aiming to enhance safety in its dense urban environment. As part of a U.S. Department of Transportation program, NYC equipped 3,000 city vehicles (including cars, trucks, and buses) with Connected Vehicle devices and upgraded hundreds of traffic signals in Manhattan and Brooklyn with V2X capability. 

This multi-year pilot tested a suite of safety applications: drivers received alerts in their vehicles about upcoming red lights, vehicles could warn each other to avoid collisions, and pedestrians with a special app were alerted when crossing if a connected car was nearing​. The goal was to see if connected tech could reduce crashes as part of NYC’s Vision Zero efforts​. The results have been promising. 

In one assessment, 83% of participating drivers said they felt safer when using a connected vehicle pedestrian alert app, compared to driving without it. 

Another finding was that in-car “speed limit warning” alerts (letting a driver know they’re over the limit) led to a 16% improvement in speed compliance during the pilot​. In a city where speeding is a top factor in traffic deaths, a 16% better compliance could translate to lives saved. 

These findings suggest that connected tech can positively influence driver behavior. New York’s pilot – with its thousands of instrumented vehicles – is now a model that other big cities are studying as they consider investing in connected infrastructure.

Smarter Intersections That Communicate

V2X isn’t just about cars; it also upgrades the infrastructure. Connected intersections can broadcast information like signal phase and timing (SPaT) to approaching vehicles. 

For instance, a connected traffic light can tell a smart car “I will turn red in 3 seconds” so the car (or driver) can start slowing down safely. Cities such as Los Angeles (L.A.) have begun implementing connected traffic signal networks. 

L.A. has upgraded over 4,500 traffic lights with modern controllers that can adapt to conditions and communicate with vehicles, a massive citywide system​. While L.A.’s primary motivation was to reduce congestion (reports say these adaptive signals saved 9.5 million hours of driver delay per year by reducing needless wait times​), they have safety benefits too. 

By smoothing traffic flow, adaptive/connected signals help eliminate the stop-and-go waves that often cause rear-end crashes​. They can also be programmed to prioritize emergency vehicles or transit, reducing the chances of high-speed emergency response crashes. 

Other cities are following suit: Nashville has a plan to modernize nearly 600 signals with connected, AI-enhanced technology in coming years, explicitly aiming to cut crashes as well as congestion​. And in Seattle, a 2024 pilot with Google is using navigation data from smartphones to adjust a few traffic lights in real time, with a goal of reducing sudden braking incidents and improving safety at those intersections​. These investments indicate that connected, intelligent intersections are becoming mainstream in urban areas.

Protecting Pedestrians and Cyclists with V2X

A critical aspect of Vision Zero is protecting vulnerable road users. Connected tech offers new tools here. 

One example is the pilot in Austin where a company (TAPCO) installed a connected pedestrian crosswalk system. When a person pushes the button to cross, not only do flashing beacons warn oncoming regular cars, but a radio signal is also sent out to any connected vehicles in the vicinity to alert them of the pedestrian​. 

In other words, your car could receive a “pedestrian in crosswalk ahead” warning on its dash if it’s equipped. This kind of V2P (vehicle-to-pedestrian) communication is extremely valuable at night or in low-visibility conditions. Austin’s pilot aimed to evaluate how well this system improves driver yielding and safety at a busy mid-block crossing. As cities add more mid-block crosswalks and trails that cross roads, these connected beacons could become common. 

Likewise, some transit agencies are exploring technology where buses communicate with traffic signals to get extra green time if they’re running late (improving safety by reducing the temptation to speed through a yellow). Vehicle-to-infrastructure links can also notify drivers of speed limit changes, work zones, or even if there’s a red-light runner approaching the intersection from another direction. All of these use cases have one thing in common: sharing data between the road and road users in real time to prevent surprises and allow everyone to make safer decisions.

By investing in connected vehicle infrastructure, cities are essentially extending the senses of drivers (and automated vehicles). A connected city can see around corners and warn about dangers that a human might not perceive until it’s too late. The technology is still evolving, and challenges like interoperability and driver distraction are being worked out. But as the New York pilot showed, when done right these systems can increase perceived safety and actual compliance on the road. 

In the long term, as more vehicles come with built-in V2X capability, we could see a transformative network effect: imagine corridors where crashes drop dramatically because every car and light is quietly coordinating to avoid trouble. That is the vision of connected mobility that U.S. cities are moving toward.

Automated Enforcement and Vision Zero Initiatives

While futuristic tech like AI and V2X is exciting, cities are also doubling down on proven safety measures as part of their Vision Zero plans – like slowing down traffic and enforcing the rules. In the past few years (and especially in 2025), there’s been a surge in adoption of automated enforcement systems (such as speed cameras and red-light cameras) and other “safe system” design changes. These tools align closely with Vision Zero’s philosophy: humans will make mistakes, so let’s make streets and vehicles more forgiving to those errors. Below, we highlight some cities leading the way with these approaches:

San Francisco launched a pilot program in 2025 to install 33 automated speed cameras citywide – the first use of speed cameras in California – focusing on high-injury corridors with a history of dangerous speeding.

New York City – Scaling Up Automated Enforcement

New York has been a pioneer in automated speed enforcement. Starting with a small pilot of 20 speed cameras in 2013, NYC steadily expanded its program to an impressive 2,200 cameras covering all 750 school zones by 2023​. In 2022, a major policy change allowed those school-zone cameras to operate 24/7 (previously they were limited to daytime hours)​. 

The impact has been striking. Research from NYU’s C2 SMART lab found that NYC’s speed cameras led to a 14% reduction in traffic crashes and an incredible 75% decrease in speeding violations over time​. 

In practical terms, that means hundreds of injuries and potentially lives saved, given that speeding is a leading cause of fatal crashes​. The city’s own analyses concur: injuries and fatalities at camera locations dropped 14% compared to similar sites without cameras. 

Importantly, the NYU study noted that drivers adjust their behavior typically within ~6 months of a camera’s installation, and then tend to maintain safer speeds. With such results, NYC has proven that automated enforcement can change driver behavior at scale in a large, complex city. It provides a strong evidence base for other cities considering the same tactics.

San Francisco – Pioneering Speed Cameras in California

In 2025, San Francisco is making history by implementing automated speed cameras as part of a pilot authorized by a new California law. California had long banned speed enforcement cameras, but after persistent advocacy, the state approved a five-year pilot for six cities (including L.A., San Jose, Oakland, and San Francisco). 

San Francisco wasted no time: the city identified 33 locations on its most dangerous, speeding-prone streets and began installing cameras in late 2024. By March 2025, those cameras were being activated, with public outreach (like the Chinatown billboard above) warning drivers to slow down. The sites chosen overlap heavily with SF’s High-Injury Network – the roughly 12-13% of city streets that account for about 75% of severe traffic crashes​. 

This targeted approach means the cameras are watching the corridors where they can make the biggest difference. Though citations were not yet being issued in early 2025 (the program starts with a warning period​), expectations are high. 

City officials point to extensive evidence that speed cameras save lives; for example, one study found that after NYC adopted Vision Zero, areas with enforcement saw serious injuries drop and pedestrian fatalities in SF’s own downtown have fallen in recent years with safety improvements​. 

San Francisco also complemented enforcement by lowering speed limits on 56 corridors (43 miles of streets) in the past couple years, with more reductions slated through 2025​. 

Early experiences elsewhere in the U.S. suggest SF’s cameras will have a huge effect: Philadelphia’s pilot on Roosevelt Boulevard, one of the country’s most dangerous urban roads, resulted in a 95% reduction in speeding violations and a 50% drop in pedestrian crashes after cameras were installed​. SF hopes to replicate that kind of success on its streets. If the pilot goes well, it could spur broader adoption of automated enforcement across California – a state with several big cities struggling to tame speeding.

Austin – Slowing Down Through Design

Alongside high-tech solutions, cities continue to invest in street design changes that inherently calm traffic and protect people. Austin, as part of its Vision Zero strategy, has implemented measures like left-turn calming (using simple rubber curbs or bumps to force drivers to take safer, slower left turns) at dozens of intersections​. 

In 2024, Austin launched a Left Turn Calming Pilot at 16 intersections, which added hardened centerlines and extended curbs to slow down turning vehicles​. Such measures have been shown to cut left-turn speeds dramatically and improve yielding to pedestrians. Austin’s data-driven approach helped identify which intersections needed this treatment most. 

Additionally, Austin has heavily invested in pedestrian beacons and safe crossing infrastructure, installing many mid-block crosswalks with flashing lights (like the connected ones mentioned earlier) in areas where there were patterns of pedestrian crashes​. By using crash data and community input, the city ensured these “low-tech” solutions (paint, signs, and plastic) are deployed where they’ll prevent the most collisions. 

This blend of traditional traffic calming with new tech reflects Austin’s balanced approach to Vision Zero: every tool, from asphalt to AI, is on the table to reach zero deaths.

Other Vision Zero cities making strides

New York, San Francisco, and Austin are far from alone. Washington, D.C.has one of the nation’s most extensive traffic camera networks relative to its size, and it regularly publishes data showing reductions in speeding at camera sites. 

Chicago has used automated speed enforcement near parks and schools and reported significant drops in speeding violations (over 2/3 fewer speeders in some zones) after installation, contributing to a downward trend in crash severity. 

Seattle has focused on redesigning roads with road diets and leading pedestrian intervals at signals; it also launched a pilot program in 2023 to automatically ticket drivers who don’t yield to pedestrians in crosswalks (using cameras on city buses!). And many cities big and small have adopted Vision Zero action plans that include robust data analysis, community engagement, and multi-sector coordination (transportation, public health, police, etc.). 

Crucially, The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy and funding programs (like the Safe Streets and Roads for All grants) are supporting these local efforts, providing cities with more resources to deploy life-saving technology and design.

To summarize some of the impact metrics from these road safety initiatives:

New York City: 2,200 speed cameras citywide contributed to a 14% drop in crashes and 75% fewer speeding incidents at enforced locations​. Pedestrian fatalities fell by nearly half on the corridors targeted by Vision Zero improvements​.

Philadelphia: On Roosevelt Blvd, automated speed cameras led to 95% less speeding and a 50% reduction in pedestrian crashes in the pilot zone​ – a dramatic safety improvement on what was once a notoriously deadly road.

San Francisco: Initiated 33 speed cameras in 2025 on its worst corridors​, after already lowering speed limits on dozens of streets. The city is aiming for similar results to NYC and Philly, expecting a substantial cut in crashes and saving lives especially in communities like the Tenderloin and SoMa where pedestrian injuries have been high.

Austin: Through targeted pilots (AI near-miss analysis, connected beacons) and street redesigns (crosswalk improvements, left-turn calming), Austin is seeing encouraging signs like increased yielding to pedestrians and anticipates a drop in crashes at treated sites. The city’s serious injury/fatal crash counts have stabilized and slightly decreased in recent years, a trend they hope to accelerate with these tech-assisted interventions.

Conclusion: Toward Safer Cities Through Innovation

The year 2025 finds U.S. cities at a turning point in transportation safety. Traffic fatalities remain a serious concern, but the shift toward Vision Zero is gaining real momentum — powered by AI, connected vehicles, and smarter infrastructure.

From automated enforcement to predictive analytics, cities are assembling a modern toolkit to reduce crashes and save lives. But true progress also depends on cultural change: safer driving habits, public support for lower speeds, and people-first policies.

That’s where our platform Urban SDK plays a critical role. By delivering real-time traffic insights, performance dashboards, and location intelligence, Urban SDK empowers public leaders to make faster, data-driven decisions that improve safety outcomes and build trust.

Cities like New York, San Francisco, and Austin show that combining innovation with evidence-based strategy works. And with federal support expanding, there’s never been a better time to act.

The vision of zero traffic deaths is ambitious — but in 2025, it’s closer than ever. With the right mix of technology, leadership, and collaboration, safer streets are no longer a dream — they’re becoming reality.